The

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

has a National Grid that covers most of mainland

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

and several of the surrounding islands, as well as some connectivity to other countries. The electrical sector supplies power at 50 Hz AC, and ~240 volts is supplied to consumers. In 2020 the electricity sector's grid supply came from 55% low-carbon power (including 24.8% from wind, 17.2% nuclear power, 4.4% solar, 1.6% hydroelectricity, 6.5% biomass), 36.1% fossil fuelled power (almost all from natural gas), and 8.4% imports. Renewable power is showing strong growth, while fossil fuel generator use in general and coal use in particular is shrinking, with historically dominant coal generators now mainly being run in winter due to pollution and costs, and contributed just 1.6% of the supply in 2020. The use of electricity declined 9% from 2010 to 2017, attributed largely to a decline in industrial activity and a switch to more energy efficient lighting and appliances. By 2018 per capita electrical generation had fallen to the same level as in 1984. In 2008 nuclear electricity production was 53.2 TW·h, equivalent to 860 kWh per person. In 2014, 28.1 TW·h of energy was generated by wind power, which contributed 9.3% of the UK's electricity requirement. In 2015, 40.4 TW·h of energy was generated by wind power, and the quarterly generation record was set in the three-month period from October to December 2015, with 13% of the nation's electricity demand met by wind. Wind power contributed 15% of UK electricity generation in 2017 and 18.5% in the final quarter of 2017. In 2019, National Grid announced that low-carbon generation technologies had produced more electricity than fossil generators for the first time in Britain.https://www.power-technology.com/news/uk-zero-carbon-fossil-fuel-power/ Zero-carbon sources overtake fossil fuel for UK power generation By Jack Unwin

History

National grid

The first to use

Nikola Tesla Nikola Tesla ( ; ,"Tesla"
''

three-phase high-voltage

electric power distribution Electric power distribution is the final stage in the delivery of electric power; it carries electricity from the transmission system to individual consumers. Distribution substations connect to the transmission system and lower the transmissi ...

in the United Kingdom was

Charles Merz Charles Hesterman Merz (5 October 1874 – 14 or 15 October 1940) was a British electrical engineer who pioneered the use of high-voltage three-phase AC power distribution in the United Kingdom, building a system in the North East of England ...

, of the

Merz & McLellan Merz and McLellan was a leading British electrical engineering consultancy based in Newcastle. History The firm was founded by Charles Merz and William McLellan in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1902 when McLellan joined Merz's existing firm establishe ...

consulting partnership, at his

Neptune Bank Power Station Neptune Bank Power Station was a coal-fired power station situated on the River Tyne at Wallsend near Newcastle upon Tyne. Commissioned in 1901 by the Newcastle upon Tyne Electric Supply Company, the station was the first in the world to provid ...

near

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

. This opened in 1901, and by 1912 had developed into the largest integrated power system in Europe. The rest of the country, however, continued to use a patchwork of small supply networks. In 1925, the British government asked Lord Weir, a

Glaswegian The Glasgow dialect, popularly known as the Glasgow patter or Glaswegian, varies from Scottish English at one end of a bipolar linguistic continuum to the local dialect of West Central Scots at the other. Therefore, the speech of many Glaswegia ...

industrialist, to solve the problem of Britain's inefficient and fragmented electricity supply industry. Weir consulted Merz, and the result was the Electricity (Supply) Act 1926, which recommended that a "national gridiron" supply system be created. The 1926 Act created the

Central Electricity Board The United Kingdom Central Electricity Board (CEB) was established by the Electricity (Supply) Act 1926. It had the duty to supply electricity to authorised electricity undertakers, to determine which power stations would be 'selected' stations ...

, which set up the UK's first synchronised, nationwide AC grid, running at 132 kV, 50 Hz. The grid was created with 4,000 miles of cables: mostly

overhead cable An overhead cable is a cable for the transmission of information, laid on utility poles. Overhead telephone and cable TV lines are common in North America. These poles sometimes carry overhead power lines for the supply of electric power. Power ...

s, linking the 122 most efficient power stations. The first "grid tower" was erected near Edinburgh on 14 July 1928, and work was completed in September 1933, ahead of schedule and on budget. It began operating in 1933 as a series of regional grids with auxiliary interconnections for emergency use. Following the unauthorised but successful short term parallelling of all regional grids by the night-time engineers on 29 October 1937, by 1938 the grid was operating as a national system. By then, the growth in the number of electricity users was the fastest in the world, rising from three quarters of a million in 1920 to nine million in 1938. It proved its worth during

the Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

when South Wales provided power to replace lost output from Battersea and Fulham power stations. The grid was nationalised by the

Electricity Act 1947 The Electricity Act 1947 (10 & 11 Geo. 6. c. 54.) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which nationalised, or bought into state control, the electricity supply industry in Great Britain. It established a central authority called t ...

, which also created the British Electricity Authority. In 1949, the British Electricity Authority decided to upgrade the grid by adding 275 kV links. At its inception in 1950, the 275 kV Transmission System was designed to form part of a national supply system, with an anticipated total demand of 30,000 MW by 1970. This predicted demand was already exceeded by 1960. The rapid load growth led the

Central Electricity Generating Board The Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) was responsible for electricity generation, transmission and bulk sales in England and Wales from 1958 until privatisation of the electricity industry in the 1990s. It was established on 1 Janua ...

(CEGB) to carry out a study of future transmission needs, completed in September 1960. The study is described in a paper presented to the

Institution of Electrical Engineers The Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) was a British professional organisation of electronics, electrical, manufacturing, and Information Technology professionals, especially electrical engineers. It began in 1871 as the Society of T ...

by Booth, Clark, Egginton and Forrest in 1962. Benkid77 Puddington-Shotwick footpath 27 110809

Considered in the study, together with the increased demand, was the effect on the transmission system of the rapid advances in generator design, resulting in projected power stations of 2,000–3,000 MW installed capacity. These new stations were mostly to be sited where advantage could be taken of a surplus of cheap low-grade fuel and adequate supplies of cooling water, but these locations did not coincide with the load centres. West Burton with 4 × 500 MW machines, sited at the

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...

coalfield near the

River Trent The Trent is the third-longest river in the United Kingdom. Its source is in Staffordshire, on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through and drains the North Midlands. The river is known for dramatic flooding after storms and ...

, is a typical example. These developments shifted the emphasis on the transmission system, from interconnection to the primary function of bulk power transfers from the generation areas to the load centres, such as the anticipated transfer in 1970 of some 6,000 MW from

The Midlands The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the In ...

to the

Home counties The home counties are the counties of England that surround London. The counties are not precisely defined but Buckinghamshire and Surrey are usually included in definitions and Berkshire, Essex, Hertfordshire and Kent are also often included ...

. Continued reinforcement and extension of the existing 275 kV systems was examined as a possible solution. However, in addition to the technical problem of very high fault levels, many more lines would have been required to obtain the estimated transfers at 275 kV. As this was not consistent with the CEGB's policy of preservation of amenities, a further solution was sought. Consideration was given to both a 400 kV and a 500 kV scheme as the alternatives, either of which gave a sufficient margin for future expansion. A 400 kV system was chosen, for two main reasons. First, the majority of the 275 kV lines could be uprated to 400 kV, and secondly it was envisaged that operation at 400 kV could commence in 1965, compared with 1968 for a 500 kV scheme. Design work was started, and to meet the 1965 timescale, the contract engineering for the first projects had to run concurrently with the design. This included the West Burton 400 kV Indoor Substation, the first section of which was commissioned in June 1965. From 1965, the grid was partly upgraded to 400 kV, beginning with a 150-mile (241 km) line from Sundon to West Burton, to become the '' Supergrid''. With the development of the national grid, and the switch to using electricity, United Kingdom electricity consumption increased by around 150% between the post war nationalisation of the industry in 1948 and the mid-1960s. During the 1960s growth slowed as the market became saturated. On the breakup of the CEGB in 1990, the ownership and operation of the National Grid in England and Wales passed to National Grid Company plc, later to become National Grid Transco, and now National Grid plc. In Scotland the grid split into two separate entities, one for southern and central Scotland and the other for northern Scotland, connected by interconnectors. The first is owned and maintained by SP Energy Networks, a subsidiary of

Scottish Power Scottish Power is a vertically integrated energy company based in Glasgow, Scotland. It is a subsidiary of Spanish utility firm Iberdrola. ScottishPower is the distribution network operator for Central and Southern Scotland, Merseyside, Nor ...

, and the other by SSE. However, National Grid plc remains the System Operator for the whole British Grid.

Generation

The mode of generation has changed over the years. During the 1940s some 90% of the generating capacity was fired by

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

, with

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

providing most of the remainder. The United Kingdom started to develop a nuclear generating capacity in the 1950s, with

Calder Hall Sellafield is a large multi-function nuclear site close to Seascale on the coast of Cumbria, England. As of August 2022, primary activities are nuclear waste processing and storage and nuclear decommissioning. Former activities included nucl ...

being connected to the grid on 27 August 1956. Though the production of

weapons-grade Weapons-grade nuclear material is any fissionable nuclear material that is pure enough to make a nuclear weapon or has properties that make it particularly suitable for nuclear weapons use. Plutonium and uranium in grades normally used in nucle ...

plutonium Plutonium is a radioactive chemical element with the symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is an actinide metal of silvery-gray appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, and forms a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibi ...

was the main reason behind this

power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many ...

, other civil stations followed, and 26% of the nation's electricity was generated from nuclear power at its peak in 1997. During the 1960s and 70s, coal plants were built to supply consumption despite economic challenges. During the 1970s and 80s some nuclear sites were built. From the 1990s gas power plants benefited from the

Dash for Gas The Dash for Gas was the 1990s shift by the newly privatized companies in the electricity sector of the United Kingdom towards generation of electricity using natural gas. Gas consumption peaked in 2001 and has been in decline since 2010. The key ...

supplied by North Sea gas. After the 2000s, renewables like solar and wind added significant capacity. In Q3 2016, nuclear and renewables each supplied a quarter of British electricity, with coal supplying 3.6%. Despite the flow of North Sea oil from the mid-1970s, oil fuelled generation remained relatively small and continued to decline. Starting in 1993, and continuing through the 1990s, a combination of factors led to a so-called

, during which the use of coal was scaled back in favour of gas-fuelled generation. This was sparked by political concerns, the privatisation of the

National Coal Board The National Coal Board (NCB) was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the United Kingdom's collieries on "ve ...

British Gas British Gas (trading as Scottish Gas in Scotland) is an energy and home services provider in the United Kingdom. It is the trading name of British Gas Services Limited and British Gas New Heating Limited, both subsidiaries of Centrica. Servi ...

and the

; the introduction of laws facilitating competition within the energy markets; the availability of cheap gas from the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...

and elsewhere and the high efficiency and reduced pollution from

combined cycle gas turbine A combined cycle power plant is an assembly of heat engines that work in tandem from the same source of heat, converting it into mechanical energy. On land, when used to make electricity the most common type is called a combined cycle gas turb ...

(CCGT) generation. In 1990 just 1.09% of all gas consumed in the country was used in electricity generation; by 2004 the figure was 30.25%.UK Energy in Brief July 2005
DTI statistics By 2004, coal use in power stations had fallen to 50.5 million tonnes, representing 82.4% of all coal used in 2004 (a fall of 43.6% compared to 1980 levels), though up slightly from its low in 1999. On several occasions in May 2016, Britain burned no coal for electricity for the first time since 1882. On 21 April 2017, Britain went a full day without using coal power for the first time since the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

, according to the National Grid. From the mid-1990s new renewable energy sources began to contribute to the electricity generated, adding to a small

hydroelectricity Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...

generating capacity.

UK 'energy gap'

In the early years of the 2000s, concerns grew over the prospect of an 'energy gap' in United Kingdom generating capacity. This was forecast to arise because it was expected that a number of coal fired power stations would close due to being unable to meet the clean air requirements of the European Large Combustion Plant Directive (directive 2001/80/EC). In addition, the United Kingdom's remaining

Magnox Magnox is a type of nuclear power/production reactor that was designed to run on natural uranium with graphite as the moderator and carbon dioxide gas as the heat exchange coolant. It belongs to the wider class of gas-cooled reactors. The n ...

nuclear stations were to have closed by 2015. The oldest AGR nuclear power station has had its life extended by ten years, and it was likely many of the others could be life-extended, reducing the potential gap suggested by the current accounting closure dates of between 2014 and 2023 for the AGR power stations. A report from the industry in 2005 forecast that, without action to fill the gap, there would be a 20% shortfall in electricity generation capacity by 2015. Similar concerns were raised by a report published in 2000 by the

Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution in the United Kingdom was created under Royal Warrant in 1970 to advise the Queen, Government, Parliament and the public on environmental issues. It was closed on 1 April 2011, as part of the Coali ...

'
Energy – The Changing Climate
'). The 2006 Energy Review attracted considerable press coverage – in particular in relation to the prospect of constructing a new generation of nuclear power stations, in order to prevent the rise in carbon dioxide emissions that would arise if other conventional power stations were to be built. Among the public, according to a November 2005 poll conducted by

YouGov YouGov is a British international Internet-based market research and data analytics firm, headquartered in the UK, with operations in Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. In 2007, it acquired US company Polimetrix, and sinc ...

for

Deloitte Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (), commonly referred to as Deloitte, is an international professional services network headquartered in London, England. Deloitte is the largest professional services network by revenue and number of professio ...

, 35% of the population expected that by 2020 the majority of electricity generation would come from renewable energy (more than double the government's target, and far larger than the 5.5% generated as of 2008), 23% expected that the majority will come from nuclear power, and only 18% that the majority will come from fossil fuels. 92% thought the Government should do more to explore alternative power generation technologies to reduce carbon emissions.

Plugging the energy gap

The first move to plug the United Kingdom's projected energy gap was the construction of the conventionally gas-fired Langage Power Station and

Marchwood Power Station Marchwood Power Station is an 898.1 MW gas-fired power station in Marchwood, near Southampton, England. It is situated beside estuary of the River Test where it meets Southampton Water, opposite the Port of Southampton. It is built on th ...

which became operational in 2010. In 2007, proposals for the construction of two new coal-fired power stations were announced, in

Tilbury Tilbury is a port town in the borough of Thurrock, Essex, England. The present town was established as separate settlement in the late 19th century, on land that was mainly part of Chadwell St Mary. It contains a 16th century fort and an ancie ...

, Essex and in

Kingsnorth Kingsnorth is a mixed rural and urban village and relatively large civil parish adjoining Ashford in Kent, England. The civil parish includes the district of Park Farm. Features The Greensand Way, a long distance footpath stretching from Hasl ...

, Kent. If built, they would have been the first coal-fired stations to be built in the United Kingdom in 20 years. Beyond these new plants, there were a number of options that might be used to provide the new generating capacity, while minimising

carbon emission Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities strengthen the greenhouse effect, contributing to climate change. Most is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The largest emitters include coal in China and larg ...

s and producing less residues and contamination.

Fossil fuel power plant A fossil fuel power station is a thermal power station which burns a fossil fuel, such as coal or natural gas, to produce electricity. Fossil fuel power stations have machinery to convert the heat energy of combustion into mechanical energy, wh ...

s might provide a solution if there was a satisfactory and economical way of reducing their carbon emissions.

Carbon capture Carbon capture may refer to: * Carbon capture and utilization, where the captured carbon dioxide is used * Carbon sequestration, where the captured carbon dioxide is stored ** Carbon capture and storage, referring to carbon sequestration from point ...

might provide a way of doing this; however the technology is relatively untried and costs are relatively high. As of 2006 there were no power plants in operation with a full carbon capture and storage system, and as of 2018 the situation is that there are no viable CCS systems worldwide.

Energy gap disappears

However, due to reducing demand in the late-2000s recession removing any medium term gap, and high gas prices, in 2011 and 2012 over 2 GW of older, less efficient, gas generation plant was mothballed. In 2011 electricity demand dropped 4%, and about 6.5 GW of additional gas-fired capacity is being added over 2011 and 2012. Early in 2012 the reserve margin stood at the high level of 32%. Another important factor in reduced electrical demand in recent years has come from the

phasing out of incandescent light bulbs Various governments have passed regulations to phase out manufacturing or importation of incandescent light bulbs for general lighting in favor of more energy- efficient alternatives. The regulations are generally based on efficiency, rather t ...

and a switch to

compact fluorescent A compact fluorescent lamp (CFL), also called compact fluorescent light, energy-saving light and compact fluorescent tube, is a fluorescent lamp designed to replace an incandescent light bulb; some types fit into light fixtures designed for inca ...

and LED lighting. Research by the University of Oxford has shown that the average annual electrical consumption for lighting in a UK home fell from 720 kWh in 1997 to 508 kWh in 2012. Between 2007 and 2015, the UK's peak electrical demand fell from 61.5 GW to 52.7.GW. In June 2013, the industry regulator

Ofgem , type = Non-ministerial government department , nativename = , nativename_a = , nativename_r = , logo = Ofgem logo.svg , logo_width = 124px , logo_caption = , seal = , seal_width = , seal_caption = , picture = , picture_widt ...

warned that the UK's energy sector faced "unprecedented challenges" and that "spare electricity power production capacity could fall to 2% by 2015, increasing the risk of blackouts". Proposed solutions "could include negotiating with major power users for them to reduce demand during peak times in return for payment". The use of electricity declined 9% from 2010 to 2017, attributed largely to a decline in industrial activity and a switch to more energy efficient lighting and appliances. By 2018 per capita electrical generation had fallen to the same level as in 1984. In January 2019 Nick Butler, in the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Ni ...

'', wrote: "costs of all forms of energy (apart from nuclear) have fallen dramatically and there is no shortage of supply", partly based on the reserve capacity auction for 2021–2022 achieving extremely low prices.

Production

Modes of production

In 2020, total electricity production stood at 312 TWh (down from a peak of 385 TWh in 2005), generated from the following sources: Oil platform

*Gas: 35.7% (0.05% in 1990) *Nuclear: 16.1% (19% in 1990) *Wind: 24.2% (0% in 1990), of which: :*Onshore Wind: 11.1% :*Offshore Wind: 13% *Coal: 1.8% (67% in 1990) *Bio-Energy: 12.6% (0% in 1990) *Solar: 4.2% (0% in 1990) *Hydroelectric: 2.2% (2.6% in 1990) *Oil and other: 3.3% (12% in 1990) The UK Government energy policy had targeted a total contribution from renewables to achieve 10% by 2010, but it was not until 2012 that this figure was exceeded; renewable energy sources supplied 11.3% (41.3 TWh) of the electricity generated in the United Kingdom in 2012. The Scottish Government has a target of generating 17% to 18% of

Scotland's Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

electricity from renewables by 2010, rising to 40% by 2020. UK electricity production by source

The gross production of electricity was 393 TWh in 2004 which gave the 9th position in the world top producers in 2004. The 6 major companies which dominate the British electricity market ("The Big Six") are: EDF, Centrica (British Gas), E.ON,

RWE npower Npower Limited is a British supplier of gas and electricity to businesses. It has been a subsidiary of E.ON UK since January 2019. The company was formerly known as Innogy plc and was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent ...

and Southern & Scottish Energy. The UK is planning to reform its Electricity Market. It has introduced a capacity mechanism and a Contract for Difference (CfD) subsidised purchase to encourage the building of new more environmentally friendly generation.

Gas and coal

Electricity produced with gas was 160 TWh in 2004 and 177 TWh in 2008. In both years the United Kingdom was the fourth highest producer of electricity from gas. In 2005 the UK produced 3.2% of the world total natural gas; ranking fifth after

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

(21.8%),

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

(18%),

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

(6.5%) and

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

(3.2%). In 2009 the UK’s own gas production was less and natural gas was also imported.IEA Key energy statistics 2010
pages electricity 27 gas 13,25 fossil 25 nuclear 17 Due to reducing demand in the late-2000s recession and high gas prices, in 2011 and 2012 over 2 GW of older, less efficient, gas generation plant was mothballed. On several occasions in May 2016, Britain burned no coal for electricity for the first time since 1882. Due to lower gas prices, economy of coal plants is strained, and 3 coal plants closed in 2016. On 21 April 2017, the mainland grid burnt no coal to make electricity for the first complete 24 hour period. And in spring/summer 2020 from 10 April, the UK grid ran for 68 days, without burning any coal. In August and September 2021, the UK had to restart coal plants, amidst a lack of wind, as power imports from Europe were insufficient to satisfy demand.

Nuclear power

Nuclear power in the United Kingdom generates around a quarter of the country's

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as describ ...

as of 2016, projected to rise to a third by 2035.The Department of Energy & Climate Change: Nuclear power in the UK
page 19, National Audit Office, published 2016-07-13, accessed 10 November 2017 The UK has 15 operational

nuclear reactor A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction or nuclear fusion reactions. Nuclear reactors are used at nuclear power plants for electricity generation and in nuclear marine propulsion. Heat fr ...

s at seven plants (14 advanced gas-cooled reactors (AGR) and one

pressurised water reactor A pressurized water reactor (PWR) is a type of light-water nuclear reactor. PWRs constitute the large majority of the world's nuclear power plants (with notable exceptions being the UK, Japan and Canada). In a PWR, the primary coolant (water) is ...

(PWR)), as well as nuclear reprocessing plants at Sellafield and the Tails Management Facility (TMF) operated by

Urenco The Urenco Group is a British-German-Dutch nuclear fuel consortium operating several uranium enrichment plants in Germany, the Netherlands, United States, and United Kingdom. It supplies nuclear power stations in about 15 countries, and stat ...

in Capenhurst.

Renewable energy

From the mid-1990s renewable energy began to contribute to the electricity generated in the United Kingdom, adding to a small

generating capacity. Renewable energy sources provided for 11.3% of the electricity generated in the United Kingdom in 2012, reaching 41.3 TWh of electricity generated. As of 2nd quarter 2017, renewables generated 29.8% of the UK's electricity. Currently, the biggest renewable source of energy in the UK is wind power, and the UK has some of the best wind resources in Europe. The UK has relatively small hydroelectricity deployment and resources, although some pumped storage exists. Solar power is rapidly growing and provides significant power during daylight hours, but total energy provided is still small. Biofuels are also used as a significant sources of power. Geothermal is not highly accessible and is not a significant source. Tidal resources are present and experimental projects are being tested, but are likely to be expensive. Wind power delivers a growing percentage of the energy of the United Kingdom and by the beginning of February 2018, it consisted of 8,655 wind turbines with a total installed

nameplate capacity Nameplate capacity, also known as the rated capacity, nominal capacity, installed capacity, or maximum effect, is the intended full-load sustained output of a facility such as a power station,

of over 18.4

gigawatts The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wat ...

: 12,083

megawatts The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wat ...

of onshore capacity and 6,361 megawatts of offshore capacity. This placed the United Kingdom at this time as the world's sixth largest producer of wind power. Polling of public opinion consistently shows strong support for wind power in the UK, with nearly three quarters of the population agreeing with its use, even for people living near onshore wind turbines. Wind power is expected to continue growing in the UK for the foreseeable future,

RenewableUK RenewableUK, formerly known as the British Wind Energy Association (BWEA), is the trade association for wind power, wave power and tidal power industries in the United Kingdom. RenewableUK has over 660 corporate members, from wind, wave and tidal st ...

estimates that more than 2 GW of capacity will be deployed per year for the next five years. Within the UK, wind power was the second largest source of renewable energy after biomass in 2013. In 2014, Imperial College predicted that Britain could have 40% of electricity from

solar power Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovolta ...

in sunny days by 2020 in 10 million homes compared to a half a million homes in start of 2014. If a third of households would generate solar energy it could equal 6% of British total electricity consumption.

Diesel

Britain has a number of Diesel farms for supplying high demand hours of the day, normally in the winter, when other generators such as

wind farms Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few h ...

solar farms A photovoltaic power station, also known as a solar park, solar farm, or solar power plant, is a large-scale grid-connected photovoltaic power system (PV system) designed for the supply of merchant power. They are different from most building- ...

may happen to have low output. Many of the diesel generators run for fewer than 200 hours a year.

Power stations

Storage

The UK has some large pumped storage systems, notably Dinorwig Power Station which can provide 1.7 GW for over 5 hours, having a storage capacity of about 9 GWh. As of May 2021, 1.3 GW of battery storage was operating in the United Kingdom, with 16 GW of projects in the pipeline potentially deployable over the next few years. In December 2019, the

Minety Battery Energy Storage Project Minety is a village in north Wiltshire, England, between Malmesbury – to the west – and Swindon. It takes its name from the water mint plant found growing in ditches around the village, and has previously been known as Myntey. It has a prima ...

started construction, located near

Minety Minety is a village in north Wiltshire, England, between Malmesbury – to the west – and Swindon. It takes its name from the water mint plant found growing in ditches around the village, and has previously been known as Myntey. It has a prima ...

, Wiltshire and developed by Penso Power. Chinese investment provided the finance and the

China Huaneng Group China Huaneng Group Co., Ltd., abbreviated as CHNG or Huaneng Group, is one of the five largest state-owned electricity generation enterprises in China, administrated by the State Council. It engages in the investment, construction, operat ...

is responsible for construction and operation. The designed capacity was 100 MWh and uses LiFePo4 battery technology. It started operation in July 2021. In 2020 Penso Power decided to expand the project by 50 MWh, which is expected to start operation later in 2021. It is the biggest storage battery facility in Europe.

Consumption

Moulded and rewireable BS 1363 plugs (horizontal)

Lighting

The

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

banned low efficiency general-purpose, non-directional incandescent lightbulbs from 2012, and similarly shaped higher-efficiency halogen bulbs were banned in 2018. A few specialised bulb types such as for use in ovens are exempt from the ban.

Export/import

There are 2GW of undersea interconnections between the GB grid and northern France (

HVDC Cross-Channel The HVDC Cross-Channel (french: Interconnexion France Angleterre IFA 2000) is the 73 km long high-voltage direct current (HVDC) interconnector that operates since 1986 under the English Channel between the continental European grid at Bonningues ...

), a second 1 GW connection with France ( IFA2), Northern Ireland (

HVDC Moyle The Moyle Interconnector is a 500megawatt HVDC link between Scotland and Northern Ireland, running between Auchencrosh in Ayrshire and Ballycronan More in County Antrim. It went into service in 2001 and is owned and operated by Mutual Energy. ...

), the Isle of Man (

Isle of Man to England Interconnector The Isle of Man to England Interconnector is a submarine power cable connecting the transmission system of the Manx Electricity Authority to that of Great Britain. With an undersea section of approximately , it is the second longest AC undersea ...

), 1 GW with the Netherlands (

BritNed BritNed is a 1,000MW high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) submarine power cable between the Isle of Grain in Kent, the United Kingdom; and Maasvlakte in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The BritNed interconnector would serve as a link for the foresee ...

), 1 GW Belgium (

NEMO Link Nemo Link is an HVDC submarine power cable between Richborough Energy Park in Kent, the United Kingdom and Zeebrugge, Belgium. The project is a joint venture between British National Grid and Belgian Elia. The electrical interconnector is the ...

), 1.4 GW with

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

(

North Sea Link The North Sea Link is a 1,400MW high-voltage direct current submarine power cable between Norway and the United Kingdom. At it is the longest subsea interconnector in the world. The cable became operational on 1 October 2021. Route The cable ...

) and the Republic of Ireland ( EWIC). The export of electricity was 1–3% of consumption between 2004 and 2009. According to IEA the UK was the sixth highest electricity importer, importing 11 TWh, after Brazil (42 TWh), Italy (40 TWh),

(33 TWh), Netherlands (16 TWh) and

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

(14 TWh). There are also future plans to lay cables to link the GB grid with

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

(

Icelink Icelink is a proposed electricity interconnector between Iceland and the United Kingdom via Great Britain. At , the 8001,200MW high-voltage direct current (HVDC) link would be the longest sub-sea power interconnector in the world. The project pa ...

) and Norway ( Scotland–Norway interconnector). The longest cable, North Sea Link, is 720-kilometre long to connect Blyth,

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land ...

, north-eastern England, to Kvilldall, south-western

Electricity billing

In the UK, an electricity supplier is a retailer of electricity. For each supply point the supplier has to pay the various costs of transmission, distribution, meter operation, data collection, tax etc. The supplier then adds in energy costs and the supplier's own charge.

Pollution

The UK historically had a coal-driven grid that generated large amounts of CO₂ and other pollutants including SO₂ and nitrogen oxides, leading to some acid rain found in Norway and Sweden. Coal plants had to be fitted with scrubbers which added to costs. In 2019 the electricity sector of the UK emitted 0.256 kg of CO₂ per kWh of electricity.

References

{{Europe topic, Electricity sector in Electric power generation in the United Kingdom Tidal resources are present and experimental projects are being tested